IKEA, the Swedish international home products company and the world’s largest furniture retailer, recently added Solrac Coatings (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. to its stable of liquid coatings suppliers, of which there are only ten worldwide. Based in the Zhejiang area in China, Solrac Coatings (Jiaxing) is the Chinese arm of Productos Solrac, S.A., which is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. The company manufactures high technology waterborne coatings.

Solrac supplies its waterborne processes to furniture manufacturers in China. This latest deal helps to establish Solrac Coatings (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. as being technologically on par with the major international coatings companies that dominate the industrial coatings sector.

Wood coatings manufacturer Solrac was founded in 1942 and has been active in markets in France, Portugal and Romania before entering Asia.

China has a strong wood coatings market, particularly for parquets and furniture. In 2008, it represented 6.4 millions of tons of coatings, according to IRL’s, “A Profile of the Chinese Paint Industry.” After a conscientious analysis, Solrac group decided in 2007 to invest a part of its human and financial capital to build a factory in China.

The 5,000 square meter factory is fully equipped with the most up to date technology, which enables coatings production capacity of 2,500 tones a year.

“Being part of IKEA’s suppliers is a huge quality step for Solrac,” said Javier Gallach Caballero, manager, Solrac Coatings (Jiaxing) CO., LTD. “This client requires effort and dedication, and the five-year plan suggested by the Chinese government to protect the environment, will help the change from solvent products to environmentally friendly products.

“Solrac’s policy is entirely focused on waterborne products because of their high quality and their environmentally-friendly production,” Caballero said. “Step by step our clients focus on high quality finished products instead of cheap products. Until a year ago, in China, the market share for waterborne products was centralized on IKEA and a few manufacturers working also in European and North American markets. The market is progressively more oriented to waterborne and low VOC products. In order to meet this demand, Solrac is positioned in China.”